How to Train Guinea Fowl to Come When Called
Easily Train Your Guinea Fowl to Come When You Call Them
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L-R: The cowbell used by the author to train his flock of 30 Guinea fowl. This is a large, coarse ground pepper shaker. Holes for sprinkling millet are already provided. This is a Lay's Stax potato chip canister that has had the top drilled with five ¼ holes. These make great millet dispensers.
The training exercise:
Grab your noisemaker and millet shaker and get in proximity to the Guinea fowl keets. Use your noisemaker and repeat your call as you sprinkle out some millet for the birds. Young keets will not yet know the delights of millet, so be sure they can see the millet and easily get to it. If the keets are on pine shavings, for example, sprinkle the millet on paper towels. When the keets are finally allowed outside the confinement of the coop, just sprinkle the millet directly onto the ground. Here's a link to a short GuineaFowlTV video that shows the first millet training of some keets.
Once you've sprinkled the millet – sparingly – quit using the noisemaker and simply repeat the call just loud enough so the birds can hear it. Don't give them too much millet. You want them to learn that "He who hesitates is lost." This inspires them to hurry along when you call them. Late arrivals won't get any millet.
If the keets won't approach the millet, back away from it slowly. Not too far. Keep up your call. If the keets do not start to eat the millet within about three minutes, you're done and can leave. They will eventually get to it, eat it, and love it! Guinea fowl can't resist eating anything on the ground around them.
Repeat this training exercise in accordance with the above training schedule. Exception: Once the keets know the taste of the millet, do not worry about getting in close to them to start – make them come to you. With each exercise, the keets will come in quicker and quicker to the call. By the end of the training schedule, they'll race to you. Each Guinea fowl will be eager to make sure it gets its fair share of the delicious millet. Here's a link to a short GuineaFowlTV video that shows millet training of some keets several weeks into the training program.
When you complete the above training schedule, your Guinea fowl keets should be nicely trained to come when you call them. You likely will not be allowing them out to free-range for a few more weeks. Keep training them once or twice a day during this period. During this period I suggest the following:
- • Mix it up a bit – use either the call or the noisemaker, not always both.
- • Always put them in the coop using their call and/or noisemaker.
- • When outside, call them to different locations inside their fenced area – not the same location each time.
- • Occasionally, but only rarely, give them an extra large serving of the millet. Not too much, but enough to keep them guessing and make sure everyone gets some.
Congratulations - you have now trained your Guinea fowl to come when called. Training your Guinea fowl to come when called is something that you will reap benefits from for the life of your birds. Guinea fowl are very fast runners with the capabilities of short flight and long glides. Training your Guinea fowl to come to you when they are called is eminently more desirable than chasing one down in the brush. Two of us have spent as long as three hours catching one uncooperative Guinea fowl. It is an exhausting and frustrating adventure, to be sure. And one that does not endear the Guinea fowl to its keepers.
I like to say "A trained Guinea fowl is a happy Guinea fowl – with a happy keeper."